Sanford and Angie D'Amato, the owners of Sanford -- the Milwaukee fine-dining restaurant that has won accolades since its opening -- have sold the business and the building.

The buyer is Justin Aprahamian, the restaurant's chef de cuisine since 2008. He has worked at the restaurant for 10 years. He and his fiancee, assistant manager Sarah Mudrock, will operate the restaurant together.

A statement issued this afternoon said Aprahamian would maintain Sanford's "modern ethnic" food tradition, and he plans to supplement the wine list with cellared beers. The restaurant still will be named Sanford.

D'Amato called Aprahamian exceptional, and said he had asked him some time ago if he would be interested in taking over the restaurant someday. He said he and Aprahamian have been working closely together, particularly since D'Amato landed a book deal in January.

D'Amato was the first Wisconsin chef to win a James Beard Award, for best Midwest chef in 1996, when the region included the perennially competitive lineup of Chicago chefs. His restaurant, which focuses on seasonal ingredients, classical technique and flavors from around the world, has won accolades since it opened, including a best new restaurant designation by Esquire magazine in 1990 and a Gourmet magazine 50-best-restaurants list.

He was one of 12 chefs selected by author and TV chef Julia Child to cook a course for her 80th-birthday party in 1992.

Aprahamian himself has been nominated for Beard awards -- twice nominated for best chef in the Midwest, and as a semifinalist for Rising Star Chef of the Year, for chefs under 30.

As the restaurant moves into its next phase with Aprahamian at the reins, it marks the end of a 23-year run for the D'Amatos, who opened the restaurant at 1547 N. Jackson St. in the building that had been his father's grocery store.

Sanford D'Amato, 62, said he would continue to write the Kitchen Technician column that appears in the Entree section of the Sunday Journal Sentinel. He also said the couple would maintain a home in Milwaukee, living in an apartment over the store. But they also have a small farm in Hatfield, Mass., and D'Amato said he plans to conduct cooking classes there.

About Carol Deptolla

Carol Deptolla is the Journal Sentinel dining critic. She also reports on restaurants, bars and other food- and drink-related businesses.